888 Holdings and the Rank Group have retracted their acquisition offer for William Hill, concluding a widely reported pursuit of the bookmaking company.
Individual propositions were presented to the William Hill board by both corporations on August 8th and 14th, respectively, but neither were deemed satisfactory.
In a shared announcement, 888 and Rank Group restated their confidence in the advantages of their proposition, which they claimed would have been “revolutionary” for the worldwide gaming sector.
Nevertheless, citing an inability to participate in “fruitful dialogues” with the William Hill board, the two entities opted to withdraw.
888 CEO Itai Frieberger conveyed disappointment that the William Hill board “did not echo our vision for the unified entity.”
“We remain steadfast in our belief that the amalgamation of these highly complementary enterprises would have possessed compelling industrial rationale and would have yielded substantial operational scale, diversification, and robust financial gains, all of which would have benefited all stakeholders.”
Rank Group CEO Henry Birch supplemented: “We persist in our conviction of the significant value creation that a merger of the three businesses would provide for all shareholders.”
“Both ourselves and 888 are appreciative of the shareholder backing we have garnered throughout this endeavor.”
William Hill also issued a statement recognizing 888 and Rank Group’s choice.
Gareth Davis, the head of William Hill, revealed that a consortium of investors interested in acquiring the betting behemoth have retracted their offer. Despite this obstacle, Davis conveyed assurance in William Hill’s present course, emphasizing their dedication to generating worth for their stakeholders. He underscored the firm’s robust results in the latter half of the year, forecasting that their operational earnings for 2016 would hit the top end of their earlier declared projection of £260 million to £280 million.